Propaganda Telegram channels are actively spreading a fake cover allegedly belonging to the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and supposedly dedicated to French President Emmanuel Macron. It depicts Macron holding a glass of champagne on a battlefield among the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk, where he is allegedly “enjoying” the events. The text on the fake cover claims: “Why does Macron continue to help Ukraine? The smell of Ukrainian corpses reminds him of the aroma of the finest French cheese dairies”. However, as fact-checkers from StopFake have shown, this is a forgery.

Charlie Hebdo has never published such material. All recent issues are available on the magazine’s official website, and none of them feature a cover with Macron. The actual issue was released not on November 6 but on November 5, and it focused on a completely different topic – an investigation into a scandal involving the online retailer Shein and child-like sex dolls.

Moreover, comparing the fake cover with genuine ones easily reveals design discrepancies: Charlie Hebdo always places the issue number and publication date on the left, whereas on the fake they appear on the right.

According to the Osavul service, this forgery first appeared on November 6 in the propaganda Telegram channel “Republic of Odesa”. The purpose of such a publication is to promote a classic Kremlin narrative that Western military and financial support allegedly prolongs the war and prevents it from ending.

Russian propagandists did not stop at a single forgery and created another fake Charlie Hebdo “cover” dedicated to the fighting for Pokrovsk. It depicts the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, portrayed as a chef allegedly showing Volodymyr Zelensky a piece of “Ukrainian barbecue” – the head of a soldier.

However, there is no issue No. 1739 dated November 7, 2025, on the magazine’s official website – the issue under which this fake is being circulated. The image was most likely created using photo-editing software.

Russian propaganda regularly falsifies covers of well-known publications such as Charlie Hebdo, The Economist, Time, and others in order to make its messages appear more credible and to provoke an emotional response from the audience. Using a recognizable brand creates the illusion that Western media share anti-Ukrainian views, thereby reinforcing trust in false narratives about the “futility of supporting Ukraine” and the alleged “cynicism of the West”.